[News] Closer Look at Linux Resistance to Adobe Flash Hacks - Linux

This is a discussion on [News] Closer Look at Linux Resistance to Adobe Flash Hacks - Linux ; Question about recent CanSecWest pwn to own
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| In one of the articles (sorry, reference forgotten) on this whole contest,
| there was some discussion that on Windows, Flash installs a "helper" that
| runs with admin ...

[News] Closer Look at Linux Resistance to Adobe Flash Hacks

Question about recent CanSecWest pwn to own

,----[ Quote ]
| In one of the articles (sorry, reference forgotten) on this whole contest,
| there was some discussion that on Windows, Flash installs a "helper" that
| runs with admin privileges. Apparently on Windows as a mere user, Flash
| doesn't have the capabilities it needs to do everything it does, so it
| requests such assistance from the "helper."
|
| [...]
|
| At least on Linux, this exploit does not directly lead to root privileges,
| which is what I believe the contest was all about. None of the reporting or
| followup were clear on that, instead leaving the now-common "security through
| unpopularity" argument for Linux as the prime reason for Ubuntu winning the
| contest.
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| New attacks from games and virtual-world Web sites can deliver bot-like
| control of browsers to attackers, said Ed Skoudis, a security consultant with
| Intelguardians, speaking at RSA.
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| The MacBook Air went first; a tiny Fujitsu laptop running Vista was hacked on
| the last day of the contest; but it was Linux, running on a Sony Vaio, that
| remained undefeated as conference organizers ended a three-way computer
| hacking challenge Friday at the CanSecWest conference. Â*
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| USA TODAY REPORTS that on an average day, 40 per cent of the 800 million
| computers connected to the Internet are bots used to send out spam, viruses
| and to mine for sensitive personal data. Â*
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